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Employees with Disabilities Community Network

Five people sitting posing for the camera, in the Staff and faculty lounge

Who we are

TMU’s Employees with Disabilities Community Network includes faculty and staff with visible and non-visible disabilities. Through their mutual support, members provide a diverse perspective of their experiences of living and working with disabilities. 

Members are not required to disclose their disability in the workplace or with members of the network. They have the option to participate through a confidential listserv only or to choose to participate in activities based on their interest and availability.

What we do

The network brings together employees with disabilities, providing them with a forum to support one another through shared understanding and experiences. We also raise awareness of those with disabilities and the challenges they face, and advocate to promote an equitable and inclusive workplace for all.

The group meets on a regular basis covering a range of topics determined by member interest. Our objectives include:

  • provision of peer support and mentoring
  • fostering a community of belonging
  • generating discussion and ideas to enrich the experience of employees with disabilities
  • supporting career development of employees with disabilities
  • sharing strategies and tools
  • serving as a liaison to address identified issues or barriers to inclusion
  • promotes awareness and generates discussion around disability, accessibility and issues of equity, diversity and inclusion on the campus and beyond 

Across the Universe-City

The network is proud to present Across the Universe-City, a short film that captures stories from the lived experiences of employees with disabilities at TMU. The film challenges viewers to consider their role in creating a more inclusive experience for everyone. Taking a collaborative and consensus-based approach, the network created the film with these goals in mind:

  • to educate about the impacts of ableism and the importance of combating its effects
  • to increase the awareness of accessibility and barriers on campus as well as how to address them
  • to empower employees with disabilities to seek out supports available on campus
  • to ignite community engagement about accessibility and anti-ableism as a shared responsibility

The network’s hope is that this film is a valuable and lasting resource that will benefit all members of our community.

A film by Cyrus

Produced in collaboration with Employees with Disabilities Community Network at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)

With the generous support from TMU’s:

  • Office of the President 
  • Office of Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion 

Production Manager
Wilson Lin

Camera
Lekan Agunbiade
Shay Schwartzman
Cyrus Sundar Singh

Sound Recordist
Wilson Lin

Editing and Animation
Conall Pendergast

Sound Mixing
Marcus Huyskens

Composer
Cyrus Sundar Singh

Musicians
Sricamalan Pathmanathan: Miruthangam and Tabla
Cyrus Sundar Singh: Guitars, bass, and drums
Poet Isis Oya: Spoken word

Narrators
Muffa Munshi
Heather Willis

Post Production Studio
LifeStyle Media Inc

Subjects in order of Appearance

Sricamalan Pathmanathan
HR and Employment Equity Coordinator and 
Co-chair, Employees with Disabilities Community Network

Elizabeth Mohler
Former Project Coordinator, Magnet 

Susan Silver
Associate Professor, School of Social Work and 
Co-chair, Employees with Disabilities Community Network

Jyothy Nair
Registered midwife and nurse and TMU alumni

James McKay
Manager Talent Acquisition

Sandy Carpenter
Academic Services and Learning Strategy Coordinator, Athletics

Mary Economou Green
Retired TMU contract lecturer and CUPE 3904 retiree

Kelly Campbell
Assistant Director, National Student Recruitment

Joanne Dallaire
Elder (Ke Shay Hayo) and Senior Advisor,  Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation

Charmian Zoll
Communication Specialist, Facilities Management and Development

Leanne Sachs
Program Manager, Privacy, Compliance and Records Management

Heather Willis
Accessibility Coordinator, Office of the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion

Rudhra Persad
Manager, Student Engagement and Development, Faculty of Community Services

Murtaza Haider
Professor, Department of Real Estate Management

Sinthuran Jegatheeswaran
iBEST Research Associate, St. Michael’s Hospital and TMU

Eliza Chandler
Associate Professor, School of Disability Studies

Crystal Mark: Poet, Isis Oya
Former Education and Awareness Consultant, Office of the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion

Yvonne Simpson
Curriculum Specialist, Office of the Vice-Provost, Academic

Muffa Munshi
Project Coordinator—PMO—Magnet

Dr. Tanya De Mello
Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion  

Jennifer Alefounder
Director, Workplace Wellbeing Services  

Erica McDiarmid
Former Mental Health Lead, Workplace Wellbeing Services

Morgan Kool
TMU alumni 

Tandem Bike Captains 
Mitchell Kamiel  
Ken Deering 

Acknowledgements

  • Michelle Cho, TMU staff
  • Trisha Anne Parco, TMU student
  • Carter Nickerson, TMU student
  • Image Arts, Creative School, TMU
  • The Image Centre, TMU
  • The Chang School, TMU
  • The Catalyst, TMU
  • TMU Farmers Market
  • Adam Chaboryk, Digital Media Projects, Computing and Communications Services
  • Toronto Metropolitan Faculty Association
  • Andrei Cojita, Senior Director of Finance, Administration and Strategic Programs, 
  • Faculty of Science
  • Workplace Wellbeing Services
  • Mara Eksteins, volunteer at the Farmers Market
  • Kavisha Vaikunthan, accompanied for eastern drums of miruthangam and tabla
  • CUPE 3904, TMU

Student volunteers

  • Nicholas Bavetta
  • Paul Beniaminov
  • Eamon Boily
  • Brianna Burns
  • Mihir Kore
  • Bojana Lelas
  • Liam Mackenzie
  • Maya Martelluzzi
  • Brooke McCarthy
  • Felisa Nguyen
  • Sia Prasad
  • Yusuf Shamma

All original music © Cyrus Sundar Singh

The Office of the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion

Across the Universe-City

© MMXIII Toronto Metropolitan University

All rights reserved. No part of this film may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the publisher, expect in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. 

For all permission requests regarding usage, please contact The Employees with Disabilities Community Network (EwDCN)  at Toronto Metropolitan University at:  ewdcnetwork@torontomu.ca. 

Resources

Eh Sayers podcast from Statistics Canada

Check out Statistic Canada’s Eh Sayers podcast. The first episode focuses on disability in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (external link) . Participants discuss the realities of people living with disabilities, their challenges and all the changes that the pandemic has brought in their daily lives.

Accessibility Data Hub from Statistics Canada

Explore Statistics Canada’s Accessibility Data Hub (external link)  for data related to accessibility and disability. The hub offers disaggregated data (large data sets broken down by categories such as disability type and severity, age, region, gender, ethnicity, income level, etc.). This information can help users better understand the important differences in the experiences of different groups, including the barriers they face.

Talk by David Dame on International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) 2021

On December 10, 2021 in honour of IDPD, Human Resources hosted Microsoft's Director of Accessibility, David Dame for an engaging talk about:

  • his lived experience as a person with a disability, 
  • how intersectionality combines to create different modes of discrimination and privilege, and 
  • his commitment to activism both personally and professionally. 

His talk also spoke to the intersections of disability, a critical framework to helping us to better understand discrimination, privilege and our roles as professionals.

Watch this past event online

If you’re having difficulty viewing this content, watch the event on Stream.

Art at the intersection of visible and invisible identities | IDPD 2019

On December 3, 2019 in honour of IDPD, Access TMU and the Employees with Disabilities Community Network presented Art at the Intersection of Visible and Invisible Identities featuring artists Apanaki Temitayo M and Sean Lee.

Watch this past event online

If you’re having difficulty viewing this content, watch the event on Stream.

Get in touch 

To get in touch with the Employees with Disabilities Community Network, please contact:

Sricamalan (Sri) Pathmanathan
Human Resources and Employment Equity Coordinator, Human Resources
Emailpathmana@torontomu.ca
Phone: 416-979-5000, ext. 7976

Dr. Susan Silver
Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Faculty of Community Services
Emailssilver@torontomu.ca
Phone: 416-979-5000, ext. 6216